Shahil Patel

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Shahil Patel is the Co-Founder and CEO of BollyX. Most recently featured on ABC’s “SHARK TANK” Season 10, Shahil is a leading expert in the art of integrating “Bollywood” and “Hollywood.”

In 2009, Shahil led the first-ever Bollywood dance team to the final rounds of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” with a hit performance to Slumdog Millionaire’s “Jai Ho!” After receiving rave reviews from celebrity judges David Hasselhoff, Sharon Osbourne, Piers Morgan, he founded Ishaara, now one of world’s largest Bollywood dance companies with over 50 premier dancers scattered across the US. Shahil has choreographed, produced, and led over 200 Bollywood performances for high-profile clients nationwide including Walmart, Pepsi, Wyndham, Cisco, DIRECTV, eBay, Infosys, IGN, GE, ATT and more. He has also performed alongside celebrity superstars such as Gloria Estefan, Jamie Foxx, Enrique Iglesias and Diana Ross.

Shahil started out college “safely” en route to becoming a doctor. Never having danced before college, however, he spent more time in his dorm room studying online music videos than he did his pre-med textbooks. Adamant to overcome his inhibitions toward dance, and fueled by his growing obsession over Bollywood, he quickly ascended to the highest ranks of the competitive intercollegiate dance circuit, leading his college team to an unprecedented 7 first-place prizes over 2 consecutive seasons. Along the way, Shahil collaborated and competed with some of the most talented Bollywood, Bhangra, Raas Garba, and Classical Indian dancers in the world. To this day, Shahil remains a true student of dance. He is proud to follow his dreams and hopes to inspire others to get out of their comfort zone, try something new, and break their own inhibitions about dance.

Shahil graduated from MIT with an MBA and UC Berkeley with a double major in Economics and Psychology. While growing his dance company, he simultaneously spent three years working as a strategy consultant at Accenture on the accelerated “Partner track”. Shahil is an AFAA-certified fitness instructor and master trainer with BollyX and has led workshops and trainings at hundreds of locations worldwide including Equinox, Lifetime, Bay Club, 24 Hour Fitness, and Gold’s Gym.

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